Traffic Simulator

Problem

Wanted to model how real intersections handle traffic — signal timing, multi-lane behavior, and collision avoidance — as a real-time simulation instead of a static diagram.

Constraints

• Needed to run smoothly in real time with continuously spawning vehicles
• Signals and stopping logic had to stay collision-aware across multiple synchronized intersections
• Multi-lane behavior needed to plausibly match U.S. traffic patterns

Decisions

• Engineered the simulation in C++ with SFML for rendering and the main loop.
• Modeled traffic signals as finite-state machines, with collision-aware stopping logic per lane.
• Used an object-oriented architecture to model vehicles and intersections as independent, synchronized entities.

What I'd do differently

Next step would be pathfinding/routing for individual vehicles, plus configurable intersection layouts instead of hardcoded ones.

Stack